The economy of metropolitan Washington, D.C. is one of the world's most dynamic regional marketplaces. Everyone from corporate giants and homegrown biotech firms to international companies has discovered an unusually rich economic environment in the Baltimore-Washington Common Market. In the words of William Haseltine, Chairman and CEO of Human Genome Sciences, Inc., "Businesses seem to grow unusually large around here. Maybe it's genetics."

Covering nearly 7,000 square miles, the Common Market extends from the Chesapeake Bay on the east, to the Appalachian Mountains on the west, from the Maryland/Pennsylvania border on the north to Stafford County, Virginia, on the south and is anchored by the nation’s capital and the port city of Baltimore. Greater Washington claims the second-highest median income level of any large U.S. metro region and ranks among the top ten best cities to balance work and family life according to Fortune magazine. The concentration of scientists, engineers, and technicians is twice the national average; and nearly 42% of the region's residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher. From every possible perspective, the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area offers an exciting and yet comfortable place to call home.